Vulnerable
by jitterbugs
Summary: Isabella Swan is in love with her best friend, unfortunately she think that he does not reciprocate the feelings. How will she confess her feelings without ruining their friendship? AH. Rated M for possible sexual encounters and vulgar language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey, jitterbugs here! It's my first ever FanFic, so please go easy on me, 'kay?

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to The Twilight Saga._

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" A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of

hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."_  
_

_- Arabian Proverb_

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**Bella's POV**

"Bella!" I turned and saw the most piercing pair of emerald pools looking at me, I was immediately mesmerized, Edward, my best-est friend since I don't know when was running towards me while carrying his messenger bag and three books on his left hand.

"Yeah, Eddie?" I said while the butterflies inside my stomach was churning like crazy. Yeah, I got this crush on my best friend, though I know that the feeling will never be mutual. He only sees me as his little sister. Not that I ever admitted my feelings, but if I do admit it, I might just ruin our ten plus years of strong friendship. You see, my mother and his mother are the best of friends since they were in the same company when we transferred in Seattle. I was Grade 3 at that time and was a shy girl. So, me and Edward are practically siblings. We lost our teeth together, went to the same school together yada yada.

Edward frowned at me. "Bella, I told you to never ever call me that in public. It's just plain childish. I'm Edward Anthony Masen, not 'Eddie'" He said while air-quoting 'Eddie'.

I chuckled "Aww. Why? It's a pretty good nickname. Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!" I kept on singing his horrendous nickname while he continued sending death rays to me. I love it when he gets mad like that, he is just too fucking hot for his own good.

"Stop it, Bells. Anyways, Alice told Jas to tell me that you are going to go shopping after classes." Cue Edward's smug smile. Ugh. Now it's my turn to shot daggers. We went inside his precious silver Volvo and went straight to the apartment we are renting. Edward and I talked our parents into letting us stay together in an apartment rather than getting one apartment each. It saves a lot more money and either way we are just gonna go to each others apartment if our parents doesn't agree. After a lot of persuasion, they finally succumbed to our idea. I thought about Alice, my closest girlfriend since I don't have a lot and Jasper, the silent yet utterly thoughtful and sweet with the Southern drawl guy. We finally finished college and now we are just having classes for summer in some subjects we would like to improve in. I'm having my classes once a week and I only got around six sessions left.

Alice and Jasper have been together for years now. Jasper became my confidant in anything and everything. They lovebirds named Alice and Jasper met while Jasper was doing a gig in a bar and Alice just went to him after the song and told him that she have been waiting for him her whole life. Alice has an uncanny ability to just frigging' tell the future, most of the time she is right but when she gets wrong she will huff and not talk in hours.

Once we got inside the apartment, I started with my plan to change the pixie's mind.

"Tell Alice I got to finish a project, please?" I pleaded with him while jutting my bottom lip. He sighed and got his iPhone and called Alice.

"Fine. But, you talk to her. I'm not really in the mood to talk to a grumpy pixie once you tell her." He said while passing me his phone.

"Bell-uhh!" I heard Alice's screeching scream and held the phone a little further away from my ear for safety purposes.

"Uhm, Alice? I can't go shopping today." I said to that hyper-active pixie while biting my bottom lip. I knew I won't get away that easy, but it doesn't hurt to try, right?

"What do you mean you can't go?! Don't tell me you got a project, 'cause I know you don't and don't even try the you-got-a-group-study thing, I already asked Angela and she said you don't have it." I should have known that Alice would ask first. Last week, when she tried to drag me to one of her shopping extravaganza, I luckily got out thanks to Edward who told me before-hand so Angela and I told Alice that we were going to have a group study. Alice reluctantly agreed before telling me that I'm going to pay for it. I sighed.

"But Alice, you know how I hate going shopping." I said while silently saying a prayer to anyone who is listening above.

"Of course I know Bells, who doesn't, but if I don't help you get the perfect dress you are going to look like a fucking trash girl in the bar tomorrow night."

"Bar?! No one told me about going to a bar."

"Oopsie, my mistake. Just get ready and I'll be there in an hour. No more fighting it, please Bells?"

I sighed. Once she says please, I knew I was done for it. "Fine. But that doesn't mean that I get to like it."

"Yayy!!! Thank you Bella! We're going to have so much fun and I'm going to make all of the guys drool for you." She said.

"Yeah, yeah. See you in a bit." I pressed the End button and returned the phone to Edward.

"Well? How did it go?" He asked while lifting one perfectly arched eyebrow at me.

"Horrendous, painful, torturous, terrible, nightmare-ish. In short, I'm going to go shopping with the evil shopping crazed girl." He chuckled and carried me up the stairs of the apartment while I squealed and laughed at our childishness. Once we were upstairs he told me that I should gain weight because my weight is like a feather while in a perfectly mature manner, I jutted my tongue at him, he ran after me and tickled me. After the tickle fight, I told him that I should go get ready.

We went our separate ways so I could take a shower, shave and get dress before the pixie arrives. When I finished, I brush my hair and blow-dried it. I put on a little mascara and some liner and a pint of pink blush. I checked myself in our ceiling-to-floor mirror which Alice insisted was 'terribly needed'. I evaluated myself and was happy with what I saw. I was wearing a dark green dress with spaghetti straps and the dress almost reach my knees. I was wearing the same color of green ballet shoes while my hair was flowing in soft curls around my shoulders. I also had a pair of dangling ear rings which Edward gave me for my birthday last year.

I went to the living room and saw Edward watching another one of those Science fiction movie while wearing nothing but dark brown boxers. I stood there for a while so I could ogle his perfectly sculpted chest.

"Stop staring, It's rude, ye know?" He chuckled while I felt all my blood running to my cheeks as I blushed different kinds of red. He turned and looked at me, he smirked and curled his index finger and patted the seat beside him. I went beside him and sat while he positioned his arms around me.

"You look pretty gorgeous there, Bells" He winked at me while I blushed and mumbled a weak thanks. He touched my cheeks and smiled.

"I love it when you blush. It looks really pretty on you."

"Well, I hate it. It shows when I'm embarrassed, mad, or flustered." I huffed.

He laughed and stood up. "You want something from the fridge?"

"Yeah, grab me a Coke please." I sat there staring at the screen where an alien and a man was fighting with swords. Weird. Just as I was getting up, I heard the door bell ring and went to it. I opened it and saw Alice wearing a bright smile. I opened the door wider and let her in. Edward went out from the kitchen and nodded at Alice while sipping his Coke.

"Hey there, sexxay!" Alice said while appraising my look. I chuckled. "Well, C'mon Bells. We don't have a lot of time. We only got 6 hours left to shop." Pixie said while dragging me out the door. Edward was looking at us with amusement in his eyes. I waved to him and he waved back and shut the door.

We went to Alice's yellow Porsche. We were singing at the top of our lungs as Jay-Z filled the car. I didn't realize that we were already parked in the mall until Alice opened her car door.

Let the nightmare begin.

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_**A/N: **_**How was it? Bad or good? Leave me your love!**

** Reviews are very much appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N:_ Well, here's the second chapter of my story. Thanks for the ones who reviewed. I reply to them all. ;)**

_Disclaimer: Anything related to The Twilight Saga belongs to Stephenie Meyer._

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"We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed.

As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop

which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses

there is at last one which makes the heart run over." _  
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_-- Samuel Johnson _

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**Bella's POV:**

Tired. That's the only word that comes out of my mind as me and Alice walks back to her Porsche. We were carrying around twelve bags of clothes, shoes, accessories, and lingerie. Alice had to literally drag me to Victoria's Secret. I kept telling her that I didn't need the lingerie because it won't even be shown to anyone except me and she just told me to go show it to someone then. Not that I never had any experience in having sex, trust me, I had my fair share of sex when I was still in High School. But as of now I'm not having any, I don't even see anyone of the opposite sex attractive anymore, well, maybe except for Edward. But, I still bought those over the top set of bra and panties just so Alice won't throw a tantrum in the mall.

Once we were inside the apartment, Alice bid her goodbyes to both me and Edward and reminded me to have a long beauty sleep so that I would look presentable tomorrow night. Edward and I started fixing our dinner after Alice left. We were making fettucini with white creamy clam sauce. Edward was mixing th fettucini pasta in the warmed Alfredo sauce while I was getting the silverware from the cupboard. After I finished setting the table, I got the garlic bread and heated it in the microwave while Edward was getting the wine glasses and taking the wine out of the chiller. We had this weekly regime of having a decent and kind of sweet dinner every Friday night. I opened the microwave before it hits zero because I really hated hearing the annoying beep, it's just creeps me out and it hurts my eardrum.

We started eating the pasta while talking about our day. After we finished eating, Edward told me to go and sleep. I guess it was quite obvious that I looked tired after the shopping nightmare from hell. Once I was laying down the bed, I immediately fell into a dreamless slumber. I was dreaming about me and Edward strolling the shore of a white sand beach, he suddenly looked at me then diverted his gaze to my eyes. We were slowly closing the distance between our lips when suddenly --

_I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world  
Life in plastic, it's fantastic  
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere  
Imagination, life is your creation_

_Come on, Barbie, let's go party _

Huh? What the fuck? My eyes kept blinking furiously and that's when I knew that I was starting to wake up. My phone, which is now blaring Barbie Girl, notifies me that Alice is calling, woke me up from my beauty sleep. I looked at the clock beside my bed and saw that it was just around 7 o'clock. Who in the right mind would call someone at 7 o'clock on a beautiful Saturday morning? I blindly searched for my phone and flipped it open.

"What?" I grumpily asked, never ever mess with a woman who usually gets about four hours of sleep in a free Saturday morning.

"Well, good morning to you too sweetheart." Came the chirpy and high pitched voice of Alice. I always wonder where she gets all this energy.

"Sorry, Ali. You know I'm not a morning type of person."

"Uh-huh. Well get your tight and sexy ass out of that bed and get ready."

"Why? Where are we going? Ugh. I'm going back to sleep." I mumbled while rolling in bed and trying to make myself comfortable so I could hopefully go back to my dream.

"We're going to the Gym and after which we are heading to the spa. What do you mean you're going back to sleep? It's already fucking seven in the morning. Bellaa!" She screamed at the phone and I willed myself to go back to sleep but it was useless. I was already up.

"Fine Alice. I'm up. No need to ruin your voice box. Why do we need to go to the spa? We're only going to a bar not the fucking prom."

"Whatever Bells. If you don't want to go and look gorgeous, then suit yourself. I guess, I'm just going to the spa alone, all alone. Someone might kidnap me or steal something from me while I'm all fucking alone. It will be so much fun to go to the spa with no one to talk to, no one to ask which color suits me better, no one to gossip with about the other ladies in the spa..." She kept blabbering about being alone, all the while trying to make me feel guilty. Well, it worked.

"Okay Alice, just shut up and give me an hour or two to get ready and we'll meet in my apartment then will go to the spa together. Happy now?" I asked while rolling my eyes at Alice's childish tactics.

"Yes! Thank you Bells! Trust me on this, I'll see you in an hour. Love you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Love you." I said as I pressed the end button and put my phone back to my bedside table. I stood up, stretched and yawned then looked for a pair of boy shorts and an over sized shirt and started to walk towards the kitchen to make a nice hot cup of coffee. I turned the coffee maker on and popped some toast in the toaster. I was bending down the fridge to get some butter and jam when I heard a loud cat call slash whistle behind me, I jumped which then led me to slide on our marble floor. I closed my eyes and prepared myself to face the cold and hard floor when I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist steadying me. I peeked a little with one eye and saw Edward, amusement clear in his eyes and that crooked smile swept his lips.

"Good morning Bells. What in the world woke you up at this time? You usually wake up around ten. Anyways, It's too early to greet the floor isn't it?" I slapped him in the chest and chuckled before standing up.

"Good morning too Mr. Sunshine. My used-to-be favorite pixie woke me up declaring that it is a must to go to the spa before we all go to the bar later night."

He rolled his eyes and muttered something about pixies and too much caffeine. We ate breakfast in comfortable silence, asking questions and telling stories here and there, when I realized that Alice will be here in a while. I excused myself and placed the plates in the sink. Edward told me to go take a shower and he will be the one to take care of the dishes. I smiled and thanked him before making my way to the bath room. I set the shower to my preferred heat and started to strip my clothes as steam started to envelope the room. I got my strawberry shampoo and squeezed a dime-sized portion of it in my hand and rubbed my palms together before scrubbing my hair with it. I also got the conditioner and hurriedly finished my bath when the water started to turn cold. I turned it off and went to the sink, I grabbed my electric toothbrush and squeezed an adequate amount of toothpaste when I heard the front door squeak open and heard the muffled talk of Alice and Edward. I put some foam to my face and rinsed it. I went to my room grabbed the brush and walked towards my small walk-in closet (courtesy of Alice, of course) and grabbed a pair of jogging pants and a comfortable shirt, no need to get dolled up when you are just going to go to the gym and sweat.

I was walking to the living room while putting my hair into a messy bun when I saw Alice and Edward chatting comfortably. I walked towards them and greeted Alice who in turn greeted me and kissed my cheek.

"Let's go. I want to have around two to three hours in the gym and then go grab lunch and have a quick stop at the salon and spa." She dragged me again to the door. For such a tiny person she has really great strength. I shouted a quick goodbye to Edward while he was laughing his heart out at how outrageous we looked.

The gym we were about to go to was just near so we jogged our way there. Once we arrived, we started stretching.

"Hey Bells, what's up with you and Edward?" Alice suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"Huh? Were friends, well best friends to be exact. Why?" I asked, perplexed that maybe Alice noticed my insane crush on my best friend.

"Bells, tell me the truth. You like him don't you?" She asked while wiggling her thin eyebrows. We started walking towards the treadmill and turned it on.

"Why? I only like him as a friend, Ali. End of discussion." I shrugged trying to keep it normal and silently wishing that my voice wouldn't break. I bowed my head a little so that the blush that I was sure to come won't be visible.

"Uh huh. As a friend, riiight. Well, your blush says it otherwise." She said, trying to silence her giggle. I resigned, I guess it would be better if I tell at least one person. Who else could I trust? I guess Alice deserves to know.

I sighed. "Well, I guess I have a tiny little sort of crush on Edward." I stopped the treadmill and sat down at one of the benches as Alice followed suit.

She squealed. "Oh my Gosh. I knew it. You guys are perfect for each other. That just gives us another reason to make you look glamorous!" I blocked her voice while I thought of Edward. I remembered the first time we met. I was in Grade 3 and we were in the same grade. I was alone in the swing when someone kept pulling my pigtails, I told him to cut it out but he just continued to do it and I was at the verge of crying when suddenly someone appeared.

"Hey Mike, didn't the girl just tell you to cut it out? Or are you deaf?" Came the velvety voice of Edward. He was really cute back then when he still got a little of that baby fat and was missing one tooth. He still had that unruly mop of bronze hair and the piercing pair of emerald eyes. He sounded really intimidating at that time and that Mike guy ran away. He smiled at me and introduced himself, we went back to the classroom hand in hand. Since then, we became inseparable especially when we learned that our mothers were best of friends.

"Hello? Earth to Bella?" Alice said while waving her tiny hands wildly at my face.

"Yeah?" I asked her. She rolled her eyes.

"What'cha thinking about inside that pretty head of yours? Something related to one of our bronze-haired Greek god friend, perhaps?" She asked, mischievousness clear in her eyes while she did the eyebrow wiggling thing.

"Alice, please. Don't tell anyone about it. Please." I pleaded with her.

"Hm. Let me think about it." While tapping her index finger to her chin.

After a while, she finally said "Okay. I'll zip my mouth as long as you will go with me to all my shopping trips. Deal?" I knew she got something bad under her sleeves.

"I got no other choice, don't I?" I sighed and agreed to her deal.

She squealed. Again. After another hour of work out and gossiping we finally went and ate a quick lunch at the corner of our apartment. We both ordered a Caesar Salad and two glasses of house water. We chatted about our life and she told me about some of the quirks of being a fashion adviser. She just got the job around a month ago. Alice and Jasper decided not to take the voluntary classes which Edward and I were taking. After finishing our food, we called the waiter and asked for the bill.

We went back to the open parking of our apartment and went straight to Alice's Porsche. I fastened my seat belt and looked for something good to listen to in the radio. We sang our hearts to Keri Hilson and Lil Wayne's Turning Me On. We were flailing our arms and doing booty dances in our seats.

We arrived the salon/spa and immediately got to business. We had a pedicure, manicure and hot oil. After that, we went back to the apartment and saw Edward watching Tom Cruise's Vanilla Sky.

"Hey Edward. I'm home!" I shouted to the apartment and saw Edward trying to search for the remote to change the channel. Me and Alice chuckled and Edward grumbled, humiliated.

"Edward has a crush on Tom Cruise!" Me and Alice started singing it in unison while Edward had his elbows on his knees and his head on top of it.

"Don't you ladies have to go and freshen up for later?" He asked us and I knew his plan. He is trying to change the topic, and the topic he chose was one that Alice would surely go back to 'Barbie Bella' mode. I shot him daggers and he just had that smug smile plastered on his face while Alice called me from my room. I sadly followed and just did whatever she told me to do.

"You got to get ready to steal poor little boys hearts, hun." Alice told me as I chuckled and let her do what she does best to my hair and face.

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**_A/N:_ REVIEW! It makes me infinitely happy and updates will be faster. ;)**


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